Saturday, April 22. 2017

[Editor's note: You may have wondered why we had not covered all the new Vinyl albums released during recent years. Read Morten's review below and you'll see why. They aren't any more worth collecting than the hundreds of 'new' CD releases.]

Vinyl is back in business and since 2009 thereâ€™s been several Berry albums pressed on 180gr high quality vinyl. But as you will notice from some of my comments, it all depends on the source. The session discography printed on the various album covers are not to be trusted though. Better stick to our Chuck Berry Database which always contains the most recent knowledge about Berry recordings.

AFTER SCHOOL SESSION
Doxy DOY-608 â—Ź Italy, 2009
Same as US LP-1426 from 1957, both tracks and cover. Sound quality is not the best.

AFTER SCHOOL SESSION
Doxy DOX-302 â—Ź Italy, 2009
Same as above, however, this time it includes a bonus CD of the same album, so as the they tell us: You can have the analog and the digital for the price of one.

ST. LOUIS TO LIVERPOOL
Speakers Corner Records [Chess] LP-1488 â—Ź USA, 2010
No bonus tracks. Identical album cover both front and back as the original 1964 US album. However, the sound quality on the stereo tracks are pretty goode but the mono ones are destroyed by el.stereo, would you believe.
Come to think about it, why was the mono tracks included in the first place since there were several stereo versions/songs in the files, like â€śThe Little Girl From Centralâ€ť, â€śBig Benâ€ť, â€śFrauleinâ€ť, â€śLonely All The Timreâ€ť (Crazy Arms), â€śIâ€™m In The Danger Zoneâ€ť. The Chess folks did a lot of stupid things when compiling Berry LPs back then.

ONE DOZEN BERRYS
Wax Time 771785 â—Ź Spain, 2012
14 tracks incl. bonus: Brown Eyed Handsome Man / You Canâ€™t Catch Me
New liner-notes and session discography. Besides two small pics, itâ€™s rather imprudent to include a print of the front page of a souvenir programme from a 1959 Australian tour, and use two bonus tracks from 1956. BUT, except for â€śIt Donâ€™t Take But A Few Minutesâ€ť the sound quality is pretty goode.

ROCKINâ€™ AT THE HOPS
Wax Time 771890 â—Ź Spain, 2013
16 tracks, incl. bonus: Our Little Rendezvous / Jaguar And The Thunderbird / County Line / Back In The USA
Stupid really to include two bonus tracks that are almost the same in structure and text, â€śJaguar And The Thunderbirdâ€ť and â€śCounty Lineâ€ś. Thatâ€™s the way it goes when people who are not familiar with the music are compiling an album. Same front cover as the original US album, but the back cover has extra liner notes, session discography and images from various sources, US posters, UK songbook(!) and a couple of single picture sleeves from Holland (would you believe). The sound quality is pretty goode though.

THE CHESS YEARS
Not Now Music NOT2LP-178 â—Ź UK, 2013
LP 1: Johnny B. Goode / Maybellene / Little Queenie / School Day / Carol / Worried Life Blues+ / No Money Down / Too Much Monkey Business / Roll Over Beethoven / Brown Eyed Handsome Man / Come On / Childhood Sweetheart / Thirty Days / Guitar Boogie (instr) / Jaguar And The Thunderbird / You Canâ€™t Catch Me
LP 2: Memphis, Tennessee / Sweet Little Sixteen / Let It Rock / Almost Grown / Go Go Go / Down The Road A Piece+ / Rip It Up+ / Reelinâ€™ And Rockinâ€™ / Back In The USA / Rock And Roll Music / Sweet Little Rock And Roller / Iâ€™m Talking About You / Around And Around / Vacation Time / Too Pooped To Pop+ / Bye Bye Johnny
32 tracks from the greatest period of his Chess years (except for â€śRip It Upâ€ť that is). Fold-out cover with a few pictures of Berry plus recording years. â€śSweet Little Sixteenâ€ť is the original speed version. The sound quality is ok.
There is also a 3-CD set out titled â€śThe Best Of The Chess Yearsâ€ť with 73 tracks (CBID page 1986), which is even a better buy unless you are a vinyl freak?

SAN FRANCISCO DUES
Geffen [Universal] GET-54058-LP â—Ź USA, 2013
Same as original Chess LP CH-50008 from 1971, except that â€śLonely Schooldaysâ€ť is the slow version not the rockinâ€™ one. And also the sound on this LP is not any better than the original album. As a matter of fact the â€™71 album has a little more debt to it.

AFTER SCHOOL SESSION
Geffen [Universal] Friday Music FRM-1426 â—Ź USA, 2013
15 tracks incl. bonus: You Canâ€™t Catch Me / Thirty Days / Maybellene
Same as original US Chess LP-1426 from 1957, except for the three bonus tracks. Fold-out cover with a standard black&white picture of Berry. The three bonus tracks really fit the concept for this album. AND the sound quality here is quite goode. So if you really need an LP on 180gr. vinyl of this classic album, this is the one to buy.

BERRY IS ON TOP
Geffen [Universal] Friday Music FRM-1435 â—Ź USA, 2013
Same as original US Chess LP-1435 from 1959. No bonus tracks. Fold-out cover with two pictures of Berry that we have all seen before. Goode sound quality except for â€śCarolâ€ť and â€śRoll Over Beethovenâ€ť.
And using fold-out covers should actually mean to make the most out of it and to full advantage for the buyers.

NEW JUKE BOX HITS
Wax Time 771921 â—Ź Spain, 2014
14 tracks incl. bonus: Come On / Go Go Go
I have a feeling this album was mastered from the Universal box set â€śYou Never Can Tellâ€ť. Anyway, besides new liner notes (plus the original) and session discography there are a few images from the US and UK, posters and labels. Inside is also a card which makes it possible to download the album as a free mp3.
Originally this LP should have been out as a stereo album in the States back in 1961, since most of the songs have later turned up in stereo on other releases.

CHUCK BERRY SINGS THE BLUES
Not Now Music NOTLP-208 â—Ź UK, 2015Driftinâ€™ Blues+ / No Money Down / How Youâ€™ve Changed / Low Feeling (instr) / Deep Feeling (instr) / Sweet Sixteen+ / Blues For Hawaiians (instr) / Worried Life Blues+ / Run Around / In-Go (instr) / Confessinâ€™ The Blues+ / Down Bound Train / Blue Feeling (instr) / I Got To Find My Baby+ / Wee Wee Hours / Together (Weâ€™ll Always Be)
Donâ€™t know what to say exactly? Itâ€™s a great front cover with a picture I have never seen before, but that must be it, or? Who the hell selected these tracks? â€śLow Feelingâ€ť, give me a break! â€śBlues For Hawaiiansâ€ť when you have â€śCrying Steelâ€ť? â€śDown Bound Trainâ€ť and â€śTogetherâ€¦â€ť on a blues compilation when you have i.e. â€śI Just Want To Make Love To Youâ€ť and â€śI Still Got The Bluesâ€ť. What a waste. And the sound quality is varying. Again it all depends on the source.

AFTER SCHOOL SESSION
Vinyl Lovers 6785413 â—Ź EU, 2015
16 tracks incl. 4 bonus: Maybellene / Rock And Roll Music / Sweet Little Sixteen / Thirty Days
Except for the bonus tracks, same as original US Chess LP-1426 from 1957 but different cover. â€śRock And Roll Musicâ€ť and â€śSweet Little Sixteenâ€ť shouldnâ€™t be here. The compilers donâ€™t know a bloody thing. Great front cover though. And the sound quality here is actually quite goode.
Printing EU here is something I donâ€™t like but I have been unable to find the exact country of origin. It seems that Vinyl Lovers has a sister label called Lilith based in Russia.

ONE DOZEN BERRYS
Vinyl Lovers 6785448 â—Ź EU, 2016
14 tracks incl. 2 bonus: Brown Eyed Handsome Man / You Canâ€™t Catch Me
Except for the bonus tracks, same as original US Chess LP-1432 from 1958 but different cover. The two bonus tracks from 1956 are stupid. Sound quality is again quite goode. Contents is the same as the Spanish album from 2012 on Wax Time 771785 (see above).

ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC
Delta Entertainment N 79 022 â—Ź Germany, 2016Johnny B. Goode / Brown Eyed Handsome Man / Around And Around / Ingo (instr) / Sweet Little Sixteen / Rock And Roll Music / Roll Over Beethoven / Maybellene / Too Much Monkey Business / Wee Wee Hours / Let It Rock / Carol
The most interesting thing about this release is the front cover. Taken from the best photo shoot ever of Berry. The one with the burgundy tuxedo and the original 350T Gibson.
These photos were never used on any original US release, unfortunately. Why is an interesting question. Strange to leave out â€śSchool Dayâ€ť in favour of â€śIngoâ€ť. And the sound is the same as on most of the other 180gr. vinyl albums above, nothing to brag about.

Now after so many 180 gr. vinyl LPs of the old Chess albums and tracks poppinâ€™ up over and over again with and without bonus tracks I am beginning to be fed up. Except for new (sometimes) clever front covers, the sound is not always the best, bonus tracks often doesnâ€™t fit the concept of the respective albums (the word here is year!), the liner notes are sometimes a little too much and the session discographies are full of mistakes!
Do we need any more of these albums? Maybe enough is enough.

Saturday, April 8. 2017

As announced on Berry's 90th birthday in October, the planned album CHUCK (Dualtone Music) was supposed to be released in March 2017. Obvious reasons now have postponed the release to June 16th.
While waiting for the release, we are trying to get some facts about the songs and the recording process. Anyway this is what should finally make it to our database - and as correct as possible. While we know about all the uncertainties regarding Berry's recordings in the 1950s and 1960s, it shouldn't be so difficult to get facts about recent recordings, should it?
Right now, some facts about the new album are public. Most of what's of interest for us, remains unclear, though. The contributors, some of which are reading and commenting here, seem to be under non-disclosure. So we have to stick with Dualtone's press releases and the liner notes excerpts reprinted in Rolling Stone magazine.
Berry has been talking about this album in interviews for at least 25 years including naming songs such as "Lady B. Goode". He must have had recorded parts or all already when in March 1989 a fire at his Wentzville farm destroyed both the recording studio and all of the master tapes.
Berry started re-recording the lost tapes shortly thereafter. He moved to digital recording techniques in the 1990s which allowed him to do the same cut-and-paste recording common with multi-track taping. Due to this we will probably never be able to set a date or even year of when a specific song from CHUCK was recorded. And we won't be able to tell where such recording took place and who played which instrument.
Listening to the single Big Boys released in advance, we hear that Berry's singing and guitar playing is not that of a 90-year-old. Even comparing it to the concert tapes made during the last 20 years, he sounds fresh. Therefore we can assume that at least the base track for this song has been recorded in the 1990s or early 2000s. According to an interview, at least six of the tracks had been ready by 1996. Not to forget that "Big Boys" was dubbed ready for release in an article celebrating Berry's 80th birthday in 2006.
Digital recording also allowed Berry to play more than one instrument. Thus while we are told that Jim Marsala, Bob Lohr and Keith Robinson worked as bassist, pianist and drummer on CHUCK, it might be for all songs, or just a few.
Besides Marsala and Berry's children Chuck Jr. and Ingrid, who toured with him during the last decades, the album also lists guest musicians such as Gary Clark Jr., Tom Morello and Nathaniel Rateliff as well as Chuck's grandson Charles III.
Tom Morello is the guitarist who provides the very unlike solo at the end of Big Boys, while Rateliff sings the background vocals. Whereas Morello has been a recording artist since the 1990s, both Rateliff and Clark are relatively fresh artists. This makes us believe that at least these guest artists have been overdubbed onto finished tapes during the last few years. While the liner notes list Clark Jr. on "Wonderful Woman", the guitarist himself says that he doesn't know which song his playing was used for. Berry Jr. explained that he and his son, that's Chuck III., finished their parts in Nashville in 2014 or 2015.
In addition to Big Boys we already know two songs from CHUCK: "3/4 Time" has been in Berry's touring repertoire for decades. Written by Tony Joe White and best known sung by Ray Charles, this is included in various concert recordings known from Berry since the early 1990s. A version of the Jazz standard "You Go To My Head" from 1938, written by Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, has been recorded during the rehearsals for Berry's 1986 birthday movie. It didn't make it to the film but can be heard on the corresponding DVD set.
The remaining seven songs on CHUCK are written by Berry himself. This is the expected track listing:
Wonderful Woman [5:19]
Big Boys [3:05]
You Go to My Head [3:21]
3/4 Time (Enchiladas) [3:47]
Darlin' [3:20]
Lady B. Goode [2:55]
She Still Loves You [3:00]
Jamaica Moon [3:50]
Dutchman [3:47]
Eyes of Man [2:27]

Collectors should note that "Big Boys" was not only released as a download. Dualtone Music also released a CD single (DUA-1793-SI) containing just this track. It was sent as a not-for-sale promotional item to radio stations.

Many thanks to Lori Kampa of Dualtone Music for information about the album and PR single.

Wednesday, April 5. 2017

One would imagine this to be an easy attempt to create revenue from Chuck Berry's death in March. But that would be very unfair to Ace Records. This album was released before Chuck's passing including Morten's review thereof as shown here. It's my fault that there were other topics to write about during the last weeks. And there's a second reason why such a claim would be very unfair to Ace: They spent an enormous amount of work in this album which must have taken months to complete.

Here's Morten's addition to CBID, the Chuck Berry International Directory:

24 classic songs from the Poet Laureate of Rockâ€™nâ€™Rollâ€™s matchless catalogue as the cover tells us. Interesting compilation put together by one Tony Rounce who has also written the liner notes with each song being examined by the way of performance by the individual artists and groups. If you need any additional info check out Vol.3 of CBID, so thereâ€™s no need for me to comment on the tracks. However, I wished they had picked a better version of â€śRun Rudolph Runâ€ť.

So far for Morten's entry to CBID written early March. We should add that the same CD is also offered in Japan as P-VINE PCD-17762. And after having received the CD, Dietmar would like to add these comments to the review:

What impressed me with the new Ace CD was how much energy Ace has spent creating it. Although it's almost expected with Ace's long list of excellent albums. The 16 page booklet not only explains the recordings in detail, it also shows cover and label images of each. In addition the selection itself is astonishing. They not only included some of the oldest cover versions (Marty Robbins: 1955, Helene Dixon: 1956, Ken Colyer: 1956 in the UK!!). They also selected both prominent names (Elvis, Buddy, Jerry Lee) and groups I had never heard of. The recordings span more than 40 years and many of the interpretations are notably different from Berry's original tunes.

This album is highly recommended. You'll find a list of web shops here.

Monday, April 3. 2017

Back to our main interest here: documenting Chuck Berry's recordings as completely as possible.
Chuck's work for Chess records is known pretty well nowadays. We have heard the 1950s recordings over and over, first on their original releases, then on all the 1970s re-releases, next when transferred to CDs, then in complete by HIP-O Select and Bear Family. So we should know them by heart.
Then last week Willem Moerdijk asked me:

According to your info, only one Chess take of Carol has been found. I think I may have found a second take. I noticed differences in the piano playing.

Willem included an MP3 of the version he found. It's a version most Chuck Berry collectors have sitting on the shelf. But yet it is different.
Get any of your records containing the 1958 hit Carol and listen to it. Now locate you old copy of Chuck Berry's Golden Decade Vol. 2. Carol is the very first track on side one. Play it. Hear any difference? Probably not. The singing is completely identical as is the guitar playing.
However, Willem is an expert on Jerry Lee Lewis. So he did not care about the guitar or the singing. He heard the piano. And he heard a different piano.
After a week of discussions and with the help of Arne's technical expertise (Thanks, Arne!) we finally have to agree with Willem.
The recording of Carol on Chuck Berry's Golden Decade Vol. 2 (Chess 60023, USA, 1973-02) is different indeed. It contains the exact same recording as the usual version, but there's another piano line. Listen for instance to the solo near the end of the song (at 2:33): On the 'new' version you can clearly hear the pianist performing a slide (glissando). On the 'common' version it isn't. There are some other piano differences at the beginning of the song and in between as well. The differences are minimal and you need to have a good and piano-trained ear to spot them.
Since the singing, the guitar, and even the original piano lines are exactly the same on both variants, it's clear that this is not a different recording/take. Instead it seems that Chess overdubbed another piano track onto the recording, probably because the original piano was pretty thin in the mix. Remember that in 1958 Chess recorded in Mono to a single tape. No way to enhance the original piano line later. Note that also the guitar was overdubbed, but this is identical on both variants, so must have taken place before the piano overdub. Why the enhanced variant did not make it to the original release, remains unknown.

The inclusion of this 'new' variant on Chuck Berry's Golden Decade Vol. 2 (again I show the much prettier UK cover) fits to the known facts about this strange release. Collectors had already found differing variants of Let It Rock (missing the guitar overdub) and Betty Jean (previously unreleased take) in this set. Since all three variants on Chuck Berry's Golden Decade Vol. 2 sound very much like their 'correct' releases, we doubt these were released intentionally. Especially as the liner notes don't tell anything. Or maybe some re-release engineer tried to tease us. In this case he succeeded for 44 years!
If you don't have the original 2-LP set, listen to other late 1970s re-releases. We have found the piano overdub on a few other albums. We haven't found it on any CD, though. If you do, let us know.Many thanks to Willem, of course!